precision writing

I've been reading the Sabriel trilogy, by Garth Nix. He's really good, but every now and then there's an awkward phrase or a wrong word ("vertice?") or something that's just puzzling. The winner so far: the phrase "with goat-like precision."

Goat-like precision? Yep. If you know what that means, let me know. But as far as I know, that's not really a thing, is it?